Trump says U.S. now talking to DPRK, meeting could still happen

Speaking to the media at the White House, Trump said his meeting with Kim “could even be the 12th (of June),” adding that both the DPRK and the United States want the meeting to happen.

Trump said Washington and Pyongyang are maintaining contact and that both sides are “very much” want to meet.

The canceled meeting had been slated to take place on June 12 in Singapore.

Earlier on Friday, Trump tweeted that the DPRK’s latest statement regarding the meeting was “warm and productive,” calling it “very good news.”

He mentioned in a tweet that hopefully, the positive momentum would continue and “lead to enduring prosperity and peace.”

Trump’s remarks came a day after he sent a letter to Kim Jong Un, saying that the scheduled Singapore summit would not happen as it was “inappropriate” at this time to have this meeting “based on the tremendous anger and open hostility” he said the DPRK’s had displayed in most recent statements.

In response to the letter, the DPRK’s First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said early Friday that the country is ready to sit down with the United States any time in any manner for talks to solve the problems existing between them.

In the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Kye Gwan also said thatTrump’s decision to cancel the meeting does not conform to the international community’s aspiration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world.